The stimulation of pyruvate appearance in the rabbit oviduct lumen by sodium propionate

Sodium propionate stimulated the appearance of pyruvte in saline medium recirculated through the lumen of the rabbit oviduct for 4 h in vivo. The propionate was equally effective whether added to the lumen or infused into the bloodstream. The final pyruvate concentration in the lumen in the presence of propionate was 1.3 times that in the plasma. Propionate increased the pyruvate content of oviduct tissue slices incubated in vitro, indicating that a proportion of the propionate-stimulated pyruvate appearance could be due to the metabolic conversion of propionate into pyruvate.